Whenever one sets out to undertake a cleanup process, whether inside the house or outside in the yard, that effort almost always includes having to “bag up” the waste and trash materials for removal and disposal. This effort also includes the constant effort to keep the bag open as the materials are stuffed into it. One of the most common attempts to deal with this process involves placing a rather large, usually about 30-gallon, trash bag into a regular trash can to support the bag and aid in the effort. This process is most familiar to those who work outside in the yard, whether cleaning up a garden or flower bed or the annual ritual of raking up the leaves in the fall.
Unfortunately, that process of using the trash can to support the bag usually leads to one or both of two undesirable results. Sometimes, the bag is under-filled resulting in a waste of a very large number of bags; especially when working to rake up the leaves or other waste from a large yard area. This frequently results in the discovery of having too few bags and the necessity of another trip to the store during the work effort. Other times the bag is loaded so heavily with leaves or other waste, the result from constant attempts to compact the volume and get as much waste as possible into the bag, that when the bag is attempted to be removed from the trash can, either the vacuum between the bag and trash can or the shear weight of the waste leads to the bag tearing near its open end or along its bottom seam. This latter result means having to reload the leaves or other waste into a second bag and leads to the almost sure frustration of the user.
There have been many attempts to overcome these deficiencies in the waste and trash bagging process. U.S. Pat. No. 7,686,260 to Tetradis shows a cart mounted lawn and leaf bagging assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 7,669,728 to Licata shows a trash bag dispensing unit. U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,989 to Lineberry et al discloses a leaf bagging apparatus which serves to hold the receiving bag in an open condition and which is collapsible for easy storage. U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,110 to Roye shows a refuse collecting tool having a collapsible frame that clamps the refuse bag to its top portion for easy loading. U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,505 to Fan teaches another collapsible open frame assembly that includes a platform portion to which a refuse bag may be clamped to hold the same in an open condition. U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,022 to Palumbo discloses a leaf bagging assembly for holding a trash bag in an open condition. U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,589 to Belous shows a collapsible trash bag holding apparatus made from corrugated paper having a waxed surface and a funnel portion to help to direct waste into a trash bag supported on the assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,844 to Garvin shows a leg frame assembly for supporting a trash bag. U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,505 to Langley discloses a trash bag supporting frame that includes a reservoir to hold a supply of the trash bags. U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,906 to Heldenbrand shows a pole-mounted trash assembly. JANIBELL shows a self-relining waste disposal system employing a supply of endless bagging material. AMES shows a seasonal yard cart for leaf and garden waste collection.
Notwithstanding these efforts, many of the prior art problems still remain unsolved. When a trash bag is clamped into place and then filled, extreme stress occurs at and adjacent to the area where it is clamped. Given that the trash bags tend to be made with relatively thin walls, for reasons of economy, filling the bags may still result in tearing of the trash bag. Also, the bags used with these devices are pre-made, one size-fits-all bags that may be far too large for some jobs and too small for others. This fixed size results in the unused bag volume and stuffing and compacting problems noted above. Further, when a bag in use becomes full, the user must unclamp the current bag in use and mount another bag on the frame; resulting in much lost time and effort, especially when raking and bagging the leaves from a large yard area.
It would be highly desirable to have a trash or yard waste bagging assembly wherein each bag may be sized for the job at hand, small when necessary and larger as required. The assembly should be convenient to use for one person working alone, retain the bag in an upright and open condition, and have a means to facilitate the loading of the bag, particularly with leaves and garden waste materials. Additionally, it would be very useful to have a supply of bagging material to provide for a substantial number of bags, bagging material thickness that could be varied depending upon the weight and volume of the waste to be handled and means such that a loaded bag could be easily tied off for closure. Further, the ability to move the bagging assembly about the work site would be highly desirable.